Lesson video

Hello, my name is Ms. Johnson and I'm going to be teaching you English today.

In today's lesson, we're going to be writing complex sentences for our non-chronological report on the Portia spider.

If you haven't watched the previous lessons, then you should stop this video and go back and watch them.

But if you have, then let's get started.

Going to start today's lesson by recapping complex sentences and what they are.

If you're not sure what that means, then don't worry, because I will explain today.

Then we're going to look at the purpose, audience, language, and layout of our non-chronological report.

So, we're writing complex sentences to use when we write our non-chronological report on Portia spiders.

And we'll be thinking about where we might put these sentences once they've been written.

And then we're going to have a go at actually writing some complex sentences together.

In the lesson today, you will need an exercise book or paper, a pencil or a pen, it doesn't matter which one you have, and your brain.

I want you to do a lot of the work today.

So, I'm going to show you examples and I'll help you, but I really want you to be taking part in this lesson today.

So, I hope you're ready to get started.

We're going to start by recapping what complex sentences are.

A complex sentence has a clause and a clause.

I've got a picture here to help you.

I wonder if you can fill in the missing blanks for me.

So, pause the video and see if you can do this.

Fantastic! A complex sentence has a main clause and a subordinate clause.

Well done! A complex sentence has a main clause and a subordinate clause.

The main clause makes sense by itself.

It's the Mister Main, it's the Batman.

It can go out on missions alone.

So, it can be a sentence and make sense.

The subordinate clause is the helper.

It can't be on its own.

It always has to have the main man on a mission.

So, why do we have subordinate clauses? What do they do in complex sentences? By adding a subordinate clause to a main clause, we can add extra detail to something.

And that's really effective when we do our writing, because it helps elaborate detail.

It helps to add detail to our writing.

There are some words that help us join a main clause to a subordinate clause.

And some of the words, some examples, not all of the examples, there are lots of examples.

Some examples of this type of word are, "when," "as," and "because." Can you remember what we call these words in a complex sentence? A joins a main clause to a subordinate clause.

I'm going to give you a clue.

They act like glue.

So, pause the video now and have a go at filling this in.

Fantastic! Let's check.

A subordinating conjunction, what is it? A subordinating conjunction.

Say it, "subordinating conjunction," joins a main clause to a subordinate clause.

So, they're really important words.

Like I said before, "when," "as," and "because" are the ones that we're going to practise today.

But there are lots of others that you will learn in the future.

But we're just going to focus on "when," "as," and "because" first of all today.

Another important thing about complex sentences, is we can be creative.

We can move the position of the main clause and the subordinate clause.

So, sometimes, we might put the main clause first followed by the subordinate clause.

And other times, we might put the subordinate clause first, followed by the main clause.

Why would we want to do this in our writing? We do this because, otherwise, our writing might get a bit repetitive and boring for a reader.

If we always start with the same subordinating conjunction, "as, as, as," it would get really boring in our writing.

So, by moving the position, we can keep our reader interested.

And you can see here, how I've done that.

There's one other tip you have to remember, top tip to remember.

When the subordinate clause is first, as I've got here, "When attacking their prey," you must have a comma to separate the main and subordinate clause.

"When attacking their prey." There's my subordinate clause.

Comma.

"Polar bears use their sharp claws." That's my main clause.

The "when" is my subordinating conjunction.

In the second example, I've put the subordinating conjunction and subordinate clause second.

So, "Polar bears use their sharp claws "when attacking their prey." And so, I would have, "Polar bears use their sharp claws." I don't need a comma, it's main clause, subordinate clause after.

And I've missed a full stop there, but at the end of that sentence, I should, of course, have my full stop.

See, even we make mistakes and we have to check these.

Okay, now we're going to look at purpose, audience, language, and layout.

So, we are writing a non-chronological report on Portia spiders.

And in that non-chronological report, to stop my writing being boring, I'm going to use complex sentences.

So, we're writing to inform and provide information.

So, how I write that information is going to be really important, isn't it? If I just use the same type of sentence or I just copy the facts, then this report will be boring for anyone who's interested in the subject.

We want to interest them in the subject.

We want to engage them.

We want them to read our report.

We make sure our language is always formal.

So, that's important even today, when we're just writing sentences, we still need to be using that formal vocabulary if we can.

It's a good chance to practise.

And as I said before, we're going to really focus on two main sections today.

We're going to really try and fit our complex sentences into our main sections of our report.

Our "appearance" and our "diet and hunting" sections.

Because this is where I add more detail in a report.

This is where I expand my ideas.

And so, this is the best place, I think, for complex sentences.

It doesn't mean you can't put them in your opening and closing, it's just I think they're best fitted into the "appearance" and "diet and hunting." So, let's get down to it then.

Let's start writing some complex sentences.

Now we're going to have a go at writing our complex sentences.

In a minute, I'll ask you to pause the video and write your sentence.

But first, I'm going to give you a little bit of help.

So, I have given you a main clause here.

"The Portia spider uses its superb eyesight "to map its surroundings in 3D." I want you to tell me when it does this.

So, we're going to add a subordinate clause second.

And we're going to use the subordinating conjunction "when" to do it.

So, "The Portia spider uses its superb eyesight "to map its surroundings in 3D when" can you complete the sentence for me by adding that subordinate clause? When you write your sentence, I would like you to write the whole thing out, not just the subordinate clause.

It's important you practise writing the whole thing out.

So, pause the video now and spend a few minutes doing that and press play when you're ready.

Well done.

Let's check now together.

The Portia spider uses its superb eyesight to map its surroundings in 3D when searching for prey.

I've added my subordinate clause, it makes complete sense, so I've completed that sentence.

Next time, I want you to change the position of the main clause.

So, this time, it's the same idea.

It's the same sentence.

I want you to move the subordinate clause first.

So, to remind you, the main clause is this, "The Portia spider uses its superb eyesight "to map its surroundings in 3D." Now, I want you to add a subordinate clause to the beginning of it.

So, put it first.

I'm not going to tell you what you need to do here.

I'd like to see what you do first, and then we'll check together.

So, again, write the whole thing out with accurate punctuation.

Big hint.

And then press play when you're ready to resume.

Well done.

Let's look together.

"When searching for prey," comma, "the Portia spider uses its superb eyesight "to map its surroundings in 3D." Okay, I've put my subordinate clause first.

"When searching for prey," with the subordinating conjunction first.

And because this is first in the sentence, I have to remember the? Comma! Well done! And then, I've got the rest of the sentence with my main clause.

So, I've written a complex sentence.

This time, I want you to do a complex sentence with "as." So, what could I begin "The Portia spider camouflages "with the debris of the jungle"? Hmm.

So, this is my main clause.

"The Portia spider camouflages," so, it fits in, can't see it, disguises, "with the debris," the dead leaves or the trees, "of the jungle." I'm going to put my subordinate clause second and I'm going to join it using subordinating conjunction, "as." So, my sentence will read this, "The Portia spider camouflages "with the debris of the jungle as.

." And I want you to add the subordinate clause.

Again, when you write, write the whole thing out, please.

Pause the video and press play when you're ready to resume.

Well done.

Let's check together.

"The Portia spider camouflages with the debris of the jungle "as it approaches its prey." So, that worked.

It's a subordinate clause, it links to the sentence, and I've correctly added it in.

Fantastic.

You might have had something slightly different to me, and that's fine, so don't worry if you did.

Now, we're going to do what we did before.

We're going to take that subordinate clause and we're going to put it at the beginning of the sentence.

So, we're going to put it before the main clause.

So, we have subordinate clause, subordinating conjunction, main clause.

So, again, when you do this, can you write out the whole sentence and remember, when the subordinate clause is first there's a piece of punctuation you need.

So, pause the video and press play when you're ready to resume.

Great job! You're doing so well today! Let's check together.

"As it approaches its prey, "the Portia spider camouflages "with the debris of the jungle." I've got my "as" and my comma has been placed after the subordinate clause.

Not after the subordinating conjunction, which is "as." It's after the subordinate clause, marking where the main clause begins.

And then my sentence makes sense.

The last one we're going have a go at doing is using the subordinating conjunction "because" to explain something.

So, "The Portia spider abseils onto unsuspecting prey," is my main clause.

"The Portia spider abseils," if you see the picture, it's coming down, "onto unsuspecting prey." Now, what I need to do is, I'm going to add a subordinating conjunction, which is "because" and the subordinate clause after the subordinating conjunction.

So, my sentence will read like this, "The Portia spider abseils "onto unsuspecting prey because.

." Why can it do it? Can you pause the video and complete the sentence for me? Well done.

Let's check together.

"The Portia spider abseils onto unsuspecting prey "because it is a skilled gymnast." So, that explains why it can do it, which is fantastic.

Again now, we are going to change the position of the subordinate clause.

So, we're going to put the "because" as the first word in my sentence.

The subordinating conjunction is the first word in my sentence, then the subordinate clause, then the main clause.

And I've given you a clue as to what you need before the main clause.

So, can you pause the video now? Again, write the whole sentence out, and press play when you're ready to resume.

Fantastic.

Well done.

Shall we check now? "Because it is a skilled gymnast," comma! Give yourself a tick if you got the comma! "the Portia spider abseils onto unsuspecting prey." That comma marking the subordinate clause and the main clause, there.

Well done.

So, we are going to save all those sentences.

Don't throw your piece of paper away! I want you to keep them for when we come to write our subsections on appearance and our subsection on diet and hunting.

They're all there to be used in our writing.

You've done all the hard work already, now you have to just put them into a writing.

And we'll do that together.

So, well done today! You completed your lesson.

I hope you've got lots that you can take with you into the next lessons.

And I hope you enjoy the rest of your day today.